Ford Sync Warns Drivers of Pollen Counts, Other Health Risks

Photo: Ford

Automakers are leveraging smartphone connectivity and apps to allow drivers to find everything from restaurant ratings and movie showtimes to the best gas prices and even friends in a given area. But Ford’s vision for its Sync system is to also tell drivers about their health and well-being. The first foray into playing doctor is allowing allergy sufferers who own a car with Ford’s Sync system to be warned of pollen content by pressing a button on the steering wheel and speaking a few commands.

The automaker announced the Allergy Alert smartphone app that aggregates information from Pollen.com is now compatible with Ford’s Sync AppLink feature, allowing drivers to hear specific allergen conditions in an area as well as the risk index for asthma, flu/cough/cold and ultraviolet rays. For now it only works with the Allergy Alert app on iOS devices. With the free app loaded on an iPhone or iPad that’s connected to the car, a driver can use voice commands to have info from the app read to them as well as having it shown on the dashboard’s infotainment display.

The GPS receiver identifies the vehicle’s vicinity when the driver says, “Current location,” while an “Allergy” command ranks the prevalence of pollen levels in the area on a scale from 0 to 12. Other verbal commands include:

“Pollen” to pinpoint the predominant pollens in the air;

“Asthma” to alert asthma suffers to potential and upcoming concerns on a scale of 0 to 12;

“Flu” for a current and upcoming flu index and report;

“UV” that reports current and upcoming risks of UV rays;

Users can also store up to three ZIP codes in the settings menu of the app. ZIP1 code is the default location using the device’s GPS; ZIP2 and ZIP3 store other locations to which the driver may frequently travel. “We found that the various app stores have thousands of health and wellness related apps,” Gary Strumolo, global manager of interiors, infotainment and health and welfare research for Ford, told Wired. “We thought surely some of these have a relevance to being used inside the vehicle.

Ford has several more health-related features and apps planned to “create the car that cares.”

In May, Ford researchers revealed a series of in-car health research projects that merge medical device connectivity, cloud-based health supervision and the integration of mobile apps that include glucose monitoring and diabetes management in addition to allergy alerts. Partners in the venture include such health heavyweights as Medtronic and WellDoc to, as Ford calls it, “manage chronic illness on the go.”

“Sync today is an infotainment system,” Strumolo adds. “Ultimately we want to extend the system’s capability so it not only gives you a heads-up that you may need more medication, but allows the car to intelligently manipulate information.” He said Ford foresees the car recognizing that the area in which it’s driving has a high pollen level and automatically switching the climate control system to recirculation air mode to help keep the pollen level in the vehicle low. “We also envision that as the car gets more and more information, such as not just pollen level alerts but also air quality, then we might enhance the navigation systems to go beyond just calculating the shortest route and most fuel efficient route to finding the healthiest route. It would route you around the area of high pollution, which might take a little longer but your lungs may appreciate the difference.”

Ford has partnered with Medtronic to potentially integrate the company’s blood-glucose level monitors into the Sync system. “That’s an example of how the connectivity capability in the car is a great enabler,” Strumolo says. “Because the alternative is that you’re wearing this device, but you have a coat on and you’re driving; you’re not really going to fish it out and find out which way you blood sugar is going. And we don’t want you to take your eyes off the road and hands off the wheel anyway. But if you can just press a button and ask for your blood sugar level, and because of Bluetooth connectivity it just queries the device and verbally tells you what it is. We think that’s a tremendous benefit.”

Strumolo also sees Ford’s forays into tying together the car, the cloud and health and wellness technology as having benefits for everyone on the road. “If you’re diabetic, for example, and you go hypoglycemic or have low blood sugar, the conditions that you experience are confusion, light headedness and blurry vision,” he says. “Those are problems if you’re just sitting at your desk. They’re really a problem if you operating a vehicle at the time – not only for you but for others on the road with you.”